This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Polish European lawmaker suspended after saying women are ‘less intelligent’ than men

Janusz Korwin-Mikke has been suspended after remarking that women must earn less than men because they are “less intelligent.”

Polish lawmaker of the European Parliament, Janusz Korwin-Mikke has been suspended for 10 days after he said during a debate that women should earn less than men because they are weaker, smaller and less intelligent. (Czarek Sokolowski / The Associated Press)

By The Associated Press

Tues., March 14, 2017

BRUSSELS—The European Parliament suspended a Polish lawmaker for 10 days on Tuesday after he said during a debate that women should earn less than men because they are weaker, smaller and less intelligent.

As well as the suspension, Janusz Korwin-Mikke will lose his lawmakers’ daily subsistence allowance for 30 days and been banned from representing the legislature for a year, Parliament President Antonio Tajani said as lawmakers met in Strasbourg, France. The latter measure means that he won’t be able to participate in parliamentary delegations, for example.

During a March 1 debate on the gender pay gap Korwin-Mikke, a radical right-winger who leads a marginal party, said: “Of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent. They must earn less, that’s all.”

The investigation was opened under rules specifying that members must show mutual respect and refrain from “defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or behaviour.”

“I will not tolerate such behaviour, in particular when it comes from someone who is expected to discharge his duties as a representative of the peoples of Europe with due dignity,” Tajani said. “By offending all women, (Korwin-Mikke) displayed contempt for our most fundamental values.”

Article Continued Below

The European Parliament characterized the sanctions against Korwin-Mikke as being “unprecedented in severity.”

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com